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𝙵𝙰𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚂𝙴𝙴𝙳 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙻𝙻𝙰𝙿𝚂𝙴 𝙳𝙻𝙲!

things i have noticed or headcanoned based on the collapse dlc.

original ‘faith’ was joseph’s wife.

that is why joseph is so possessive of faith (calling her ‘my’ or ‘mine’ all the time).

that is why he is absolutely loving to her but immediately shifts to anger if she dares to stray from the faith persona (talking about faith as a third person or stating her true name).

he makes the faiths wear his wife’s clothes and her perfume to keep the illusion and the comfort of still having her by his side.

faith is however NOT treated as a wife, but more like a daughter, despite being called the seeds’ sister. joseph places her in the frame of the daughter he lost. he infantilizes her, patronizes her, promises love and protection in exchange for complete obedience and devotion and faith is happy to oblige. she also places joseph and his brothers in the shoes of the family that abused, neglected and later rejected her when she was rachel. she is happy, most of the time, to perform perfectly to the role of faith seed. faith is the ‘first daughter’ basically.

part of the ‘rite of passage’ to becoming faith was killing the old faith. rachel had to push the previous faith from a great height, signifying that the old faith had lost her place and therefore didn’t survive the fall because she no longer walked the path, and then she took her place. because of this, the dynamic between faith and joseph is based ALSO on a lot of fear. she knows that if she doesn’t perform to his liking and he ends up finding someone more suitable, he will dispose of her as he did with the others.

faith was angry a lot and she had bursts of anger when she was alone with joseph that were usually instantly disciplined. he never actually lay a hand on her, but there were other forms of abuse going on. no, faith was never entirely innocent, she enjoyed the power she had as faith and she enjoyed dishing out the treatment she was recieving onto others. she can and will be cruel (hence the creation of the angels). but she also lived in fear of not being perfect enough in her ‘faith role’ to the point she would be the next one replaced.

𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽: 𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙿𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙰𝙽𝚃𝚁𝚄𝙼𝚂

(the unsent letter above was found in the interior of a small cabin, in total disarray. a clear altercation had happened, there was blood on the floor tracking towards the entrance of the cabin, an eden’s gate cross painted on the wall and the words ‘sinner’ written on it as well)

Faith is prone to temper tantrums. She has a lot of anger and does not know how to deal with in her role of Faith, because she isn’t SUPPOSED to show it. She doesn’t like to be defied and sometimes will react to any defiance in ugly, violent ways. Of course, 99% of the times she won’t do anything herself, but will send her people to deliver the message.

Example: I headcanon that Jasmine Chan sent a noise complaint to Joseph, directly, regarding the construction close to her house, which is in Faith’s region. While Joseph wasn’t exactly angry about it, he did bring it to Faith’s attention in a subtle and tactful way that basically meant ‘control your region, I don’t have time for this’ and she understood that message.

The fact that Joseph basically scolded her because of this random woman’s noise complaint when she’s out here doing THE LORD’S WORK (feel free to roll your eyes, because I did) absolutely infuriated her. This unimportant woman is putting her at risk. If Faith isn’t perfect, she can (and would) be replaced. How dare she?

Fear is the most effective trigger to Faith’s anger, but so is defiance. So Faith paid her a visit, left her some veiled threats (which she clearly missed based on this letter) and then sent her people to do the rest.

This is not the first time something like this would happen. Faith is prone to bursts of anger due to the abuse and neglect she has suffered. She tries to contain them, tries to cover it up until she can’t anymore. Which is when the really terrible stuff happens.

𝚂𝚃𝚄𝙳𝚈: 𝙵𝙰𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚂𝙴𝙴𝙳 / 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝚃𝙷 (𝙷𝙾𝚁𝚂𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙰𝙿𝙾𝙲𝙰𝙻𝚈𝙿𝚂𝙴)

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. — Revelation 6:7–8 (New American Standard Bible)

I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.”

⮡ Faith does use her voice a lot. She’s the Siren. She calls to people from the fields of Bliss, singing and practically enchanting them with her words.

Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth;

⮡ This is true for all of the Seeds, but she does preside over a fourth of Hope County;

to kill with (…) pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

⮡ Pestilence, in this context, is Bliss. It does make people sick in the sense that if you’re on Bliss you’re not exactly healthy. You’re not yourself. She does weaponize it to the point it debilitates people and they’re not themselves anymore.

⮡ And although the “Judge Animals” are all over Hope County and not just Faith’s region, they’re the way they are because of the Bliss, which is her weapon of choice.

Unlike the other three Horsemen, Death is not described carrying a weapon or other object.

⮡ Faith is the ONLY Herald not to bear any weapons at any times. Her weapon is Bliss and her words. Her weapon is manipulation.

The color of Death’s horse is written as khlōros in the original text, which can mean either green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid.

⮡ While Faith wears a white dress and the Bliss flower is also white, the Bliss smoke/powder/etc as well as the general aesthetic of the Bliss visions is green.

𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽: 𝙵𝙰𝙸𝚃𝙷’𝚂 𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚃𝙾𝙾

(a huge thank you to @gardenlocust since it was during a conversation between us that this came to me.)

Faith’s tattoo on her arm is the formula for Cocaine (C17H21No4). This wasn’t one of the attonement marks that is demanded by Joseph and by the Project. In fact, it was done in direct defiance to him and while Joseph wasn’t happy, he understood why it was done later.

This tattoo symbolizes Faith’s link to John. Ever since the role of Faith was created, John had issues with her. Not with the Faiths as PEOPLE but with them as this ‘new sibling’. Basically he was the youngest Seed for a long time and now, not anymore. Not only that but Joseph puts Faith on this extremely high pedestal where she can do no wrong. She’s the embodiment of faith itself, sublime and perfect in her existence.

John wanted to make Faith/Rachel attone as soon as she stepped into the role, especially knowing how much Rachel and John had in common regarding their past, their struggles and their shortcomings. Why did he have to mark his body and not her?

Faith wanted a family. She craves approval and affection from her brothers and will try her best to integrate the family, especially since she’s the one person that stood in the role of Faith for the longest time. After many attempts to bond with John (which were built slowly over time) she found a way to really connect with him. Even though Joseph wanted her skin to remain untouched to signify the purity she’s supposed to represent, she asked John to give her an attonement tatto: the formula for Cocaine, which was her drug of choice back in the day.

They went against Joseph’s orders together and had a blast doing it. This tattoo basically symbolizes her saying ‘we’re a team’ to John.

@themechaneer : headcanon prompt.

What’s your immune system like? Do they fall ill easily? How quickly do they normally bounce back?

faith’s immune system is really strong. she does NOT get sick easily, not even when she was into hardcore dr#gs. when she does get sick however, it usually knocks her down pretty hard and she has to stay in bed for days before she gets better. it’s extremely rare, but yeah.

How do they behave when they are sick? Are they the type to try and push through it, to only rest as long as they feel absolutely necessary, or are they the time to milk their sad state for all its worth?

in the rare occasions she does get sick, she will absolutely 100% make a spectacle of it. it’s going to be dramatic, somber, theatrical. she will demand to be taken care of — not in actual words, but no one around her will be able to help it.

𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽: 𝙸𝙼𝙼𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝙻𝙸𝚂𝚂

i don’t know if this is canon or not, but it is now, from this moment, on this blog. faith is immune to the effects of bliss. it’s how she manages to be around it all the time without being extremely high and still be able to guide people through their own trip.

the work that joseph did with her in the beginning was exactly that. he cleaned her, then got her addicted to bliss, cleaned her again, and over and over until she reached this immunity. of course that huge amounts of concentrated bliss will still affect her, but she’s careful not to let that happen.

𝙹𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙿𝙷 𝚂𝙴𝙴𝙳 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂: FAITH.

The concept of Faith was born, at first, as just a ‘third herald’. They needed it to properly control Hope County. It was too big of a region to be divided between only the three of them (Joseph, John and Jacob).

Joseph’s wife’s (the original Faith) death was a breaking point for him. She was EVERYTHING to him. His chance at a new beginning, at a good, normal life, at the loving family he deserved. So when she died, he literally couldn’t actually FUNCTION for a long time. It’s something that triggers anger, anguish and hopelessness for him — Joseph has never truthfully processed the loss of his wife. Which is why any reminder of the fact that she is actually dead (such as Faith stating her true name or talking about Faith in the third person) will elicit ANGER from him to the point he feels aggressive (although he never directly physically harmed any of the Faiths).

And so he came up with the concept of a sister.

THIS IS IMPORTANT! Joseph does not see the Faiths as wives. They do replace her, but only in the sense that he cannot live without her. He can’t exist in a world where Faith Seed isn’t there so the Faiths do occupy that position. He dresses them in his late wife’s clothes, makes them wear her perfume and her hairstyle — this is all emotional. It’s so he can be close to her memory and to the illusion of still having her around. But he has NO romantic feelings or marital feelings towards Faith WHATSOEVER.

And to be quite honest, he doesn’t really see Faith as a sister either. Although he has the title of Father, his sees his brothers as more of his equals. Sure, he takes care of them but they do decide things together and they have a more balanced dynamic (if none of them is having a breakdown, that is).

With Faith, it’s more like she’s his daughter. He also uses the Faiths to replace the infant daughter he had to kill and never got to raise. The base of their relationship is very parental to its core — she has to be obedient, devoted, innocent and pure and he promises family, foundation, protection, safety, guidance. Faith is the ‘First Daughter’. This is the reason he is so posessive of her (”My Faith”, “you are mine to protect”).

The reason Joseph came up with the rite of passage for Faiths (killing the old Faith to replace her) was for one reason only: the thought of Faith dying and not existing is just too painful. However, if the ‘new Faith’ pushes the ‘old Faith’ from the top of the Joseph statue in a symbolic rite of passage, it was more as if Faith was being reborn. It meant not only that he didn’t lose her, but that the new Faith had the courage to obey even the most difficult orders and she would perform in a desired way.

𝙹𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙿𝙷 𝚂𝙴𝙴𝙳 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂: CONVERSION.

⤍ FIRST STEP: PREACHING. That’s Joseph’s turf. Most of the faithful simply heard him preaching and BELIEVED. Joseph is charismatic and magnetic. His abilities and the insight the Voice gives him help him to find the exact right words to convince most people to join.

⤍ SECOND STEP: WALK THE PATH. Willingly or not, all must walk the path. Learn about Joseph’s history, about his journey and how he became the father. Sometimes, the walk is what it takes to break people and make them join, make them SEE.

⤍ THIRD STEP: CONFESSION & BAPTISM. You are all familiar with John’s work. I will refrain from saying too much because that should be left to the amazing John blogs out there, I’m sure they have thoughts on the whole process of Baptism and Confessions. But yes, this would be the next step. Everyone goes through it, willingly or not.

⤍ FOURTH STEP: CULL THE HERD. Jacob takes in those who resist the words of the Father the most. Those who are strong, survive and become part of the faithful, part of the community. Those who are weak are shipped off to Faith. (thank you to @sacrifought for coming up with this part <3 but i’ll leave the details to you!)

⤍ FINAL DESTINATION: ANGELS. I will be writing a headcanon expanding on the creation and handling of the Angels on my Faith ( @faithblissd ) blog. But yes, this is where you end up if you are too weak for Jacob to use or too stubborn to obey and for some reason classical conditioning doesn’t work on you.

#&. joseph seed. ⇢ 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗋𝗈𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗍. ❜

if you were a deity, what would you be the god of?

wisdom and knowledge. intelligent and trusted, there is rarely a soul who doesn’t hear and value your voice. you act as a guiding light in an array of situations. calm and wise, you offer the deepest and sincerest insights regarding the world’s problems.

THE SEEDS AS THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.

(From left to right: Faith Seed - DEATH, John Seed - FAMINE, Jacob Seed - WAR, Joseph Seed - Conquest)

𝚂𝚃𝚄𝙳𝚈: 𝙹𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙿𝙷 𝚂𝙴𝙴𝙳 / 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝚀𝚄𝙴𝚂𝚃 (𝙷𝙾𝚁𝚂𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙰𝙿𝙾𝙲𝙰𝙻𝚈𝙿𝚂𝙴)

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. — Revelation 6:1–2 New American Standard Bible

For nearly nineteen centuries, Christians had thought that the first horseman was a positive figure representing either Christ or the Gospel, but a completely different interpretation of this character emerged in 1866, when C.F. Wimpel defended the first hypothesis that the first horseman was the Antichrist.

⮡ “Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of Antichrist (…)” / Joseph Seed was born in Rome, Georgia.

⮡ The Antichrist is said to be a ‘false prophet’. Not only Joseph calls himself a prophet, a CHOSEN of God, but there’s a quest in the game that is literally CALLED “False Prophet” (you have to destroy and climb his statue and burn the Book of Joseph).

According to Edward Bishop Elliott’s interpretation, the Four Horsemen represent a prophecy of the subsequent history of the Roman Empire, the white color of this horse signifies triumph, prosperity and health in the political Roman body. For the next 80 or 90 years, succeeding the banishment of the prophet John to Patmos, a golden age of prosperity, union, civil liberty and good government unstained with civil blood unfolded. The agents of this prosperity, personified by the rider of the white horse, are these five emperors wearing crowns, who reigned with absolute authority and power under the guidance of virtue and wisdom, the armies being restrained by their firm and gentle hands.

⮡ Joseph’s role in the cult as ‘the Father’ is that of Conquest, basically.

⮡ He successfully ‘banished’ Pastor Jerome Jeffries at some point and established the Project at Eden’s Gate as the ‘main religion’ in Hope County.

⮡ Although he believes that his way of living is the one that will lead to peace, happiness and prosperity because it rejects the ways of the current world, he absolutely spills A LOT OF BLOOD to get there.

⮡ “Power under the guidance of virtue and wisdom (…) their firm and gentle hands.” This pretty much sums up Joseph and how he deals with the project and with his enemies, even. He is charismatic, he is wise, he is empathic (although that empathy is misplaced) and even gentle and merciful at times. But he WILL NOT be defied.